Hi friends, welcome back to my Paris and London Anniversary series 🙂 Jon and I were supposed to have our anniversary pictures this morning, but due to inclement weather, we postponed them until the following morning. This was the only day of slightly bad weather the whole trip so we got very lucky! We took it as a sign to sleep in a little before starting off our fifth day in Paris. We put on our rain jackets, grabbed coffee, and then walked to the Luxembourg Gardens not far from where we were staying.
The Luxembourg Gardens (Jardin du Luxembourg) spans sixty acres and is filled with fountains, over 100 statues, picnic tables, tennis courts, playgrounds, beehives, and well-manicured trees and flowerbeds. This park is a popular spot for chess players to meet up, but due to the rain we didn’t venture to the northwest side of the park.
The Luxembourg Palace and Garden were built in 1615 by King Henry IV’s widow Marie de’ Medici to resemble her childhood home back in Italy. This was her escape from life at the Louvre Palace, but unfortunately her son Louis XIII exiled her to Germany so she didn’t get to enjoy it for very long.
Nowadays Luxembourg Palace is the meeting spot of the French Senate and guarded by security.
This pond is usually filled with toy sailboats and Parisians relaxing in the green chairs, but not on a rainy Monday morning.
The Marie de Medici Fountain was originally in a different location and moved here brick by brick in the mid-1800s. It was also recently cleaned in the summer of 2021, perfect timing for our visit.
It started downpouring while we were here so we huddled under a tree to let the rain slow down. Despite the rain, the Luxembourg Gardens still looked beautiful!
Eventually Jon and I decided to keep moving and grabbed baguettes for lunch on our way to Eglise St. Eustache. This massive Gothic looking church was built in 1532 and restored in 1840. It is free to enter and worth a quick walk around to admire the Renaissance interior. The organ is one of the largest pipe organs in France and you can listen to free organ recitals on Sundays at 5:30 pm. The Eglise St. Eustache also hosts symphonies, choirs, and festivals throughout the year for performances.
Afterwards, Jon and I walked to the Orangerie Museum in the Tuileries Garden. We thought we could buy tickets at the door, but unfortunately you need an advanced online reservation and can’t book same day tickets. We were a little disappointed to miss Monet’s famous Water Lillies, but we had been so busy and seen a few museums, so it was nice to have a little down time. Next time we go to Paris it will be at the top of our list.
Jon and I headed back to our hotel to pick up our luggage and then called an uber to take us to our new hotel closer to the Eiffel Tower, Hotel La Comtesse. We dreamed of having a view of the Eiffel Tower out of our window and this room delivered! It was the perfect spot to watch the light show each night and felt like something out of a movie scene.
Jon and I grabbed gelato for dinner at Amorino and then headed to go up the Eiffel Tower!
To be continued 🙂
Posts in my Paris and London Anniversary series:
- Day 1 – Saint Chapelle, the Concierge, and Notre Dame
- Day 2 – Palace of Versailles
- Day 2 – Versailles Garden
- Day 2 – Touring the Versailles Summer Homes
- Day 3 – Louvre Museum
- Day 3 – Champs Elysees & Arc de Triomphe
- Day 4 – Montmartre & Sacre Coeur
- Day 4 – Musee d’Orsay & Crepes
